Water Quality

Take pure water, for instance. Our dear sachet water friend on the highway costs N100, 000/m³ yet the quality of the so-called “Pure” water is questionable. Comparatively, LSWC supply costs N50/m³ and it is safe for drinking because it is well treated. Your open wells, “Konga”, a popular for many, cost N100/m³. And yet you are eager to pay for it without complaints. It must, however, interest you to note that most wells are not treated at all.

You stand the risk of getting infected because most wells are exposed to pollution. The pushcarts are unexpectedly among the costliest supplies for domestic use. Consumers pay as high as N400/m³ or more for supplies. And surprisingly this is a common source of supply to the poor.

Tank supplies are arguably the most expensive for public consumption. The average cost of a 25,000 gallon Tanker is N2,500. 00 in construction environment and possibly half in the remote areas.

Those who consume Tankered water for domestic purpose pay through their noses. Deep boreholes are probably deeper but the cost of maintaining boreholes is becoming prohibitive, while the ground water aquifer might not be able to sustain the rate of use for long. Cases of ground water pollution also exist to compound the issue.
When private suppliers provide, the public is ever willing to pay. According to the World Bank Development Report, 1994, the same trend also exists in Brazil, where the willingness to pay for new water connections was four times the cost of providing the service. The poor are, therefore, not simply willing to pay in theory, the report went further, they also pay in practice. According to the report, in the mid-1970's to the early 1980's, people in 17 cities surveyed were paying private water vendors an average of 25 times the prices charged by the state-owned utility.

How much does your water cost? Despite these glaring disparities between the cost of private supplies (informal markets) and the LSWC supplies, the consumer is ever eager to pay for the more expensive and obviously low quality supplies but always reluctant to pay for the government supplies.

Government Identity

The Government Identity, therefore, elicits the general reluctance to pay for water services provided by public waterworks. Privatisation will surely remove the identity.